Hands-on Learning Archives - Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

5 Ways to Make Math Practice Fun

May 25, 2017 By Tara Mitchell

Written by Tara Mitchell of Embark on the Journey.

Do your kids dread practicing their math facts? Do they grumble when you break out the flash cards or the math workbooks?

Try putting the teaching materials aside every now and again. There are many non-traditional ways our kids can practice counting, adding, subtracting and such.

By incorporating movement, games, and even candy, we can keep the drudgery of learning math facts at bay. Who knows, your kids may even begin to look forward to math practice if you try these fun ideas.

1. Play games.

There are so many board games and card games that you can play to help your kids practice beginning math skills. Uno and Go Fish are great for number and/or color recognition. Candyland and Chutes & Ladders will have your children practicing their counting skills.

Older kids can enjoy a rousing game of War while practicing greater than and less than. Many games can be adapted to practice addition, subtraction, or multiplication, as well.

2. Teach with candy.

Whether you’ve got leftover candy from the holidays or you’re looking for a fun new way to teach a lesson, you can’t go wrong when you incorporate candy into your daily math lessons.

Use M&Ms or Skittles as counters while practicing addition and subtraction. They’re great for making groups to show multiplication and division, as well.

Hershey bars are great for showing fractions. Marshmallows and gumdrops, when paired with toothpicks, can be used to build shapes, both 2D and 3D.

3. Toss those facts around.

Blow up a beach ball and use a permanent marker to write numbers all over it. Now, you can play a game of catch with your child. For preschoolers and kindergarteners, play “What Comes Before/After.” Toss the ball to your child, and have them name the number that comes before and/or after the number their thumb is touching.

As your kids get older, you can continue playing the game while practicing basic math facts. Call out a number, 2 for example. Have your child add, subtract, or multiply that number with the number their thumb touches as they catch the ball.

There are so many ways to adapt this game as your child’s knowledge base grows. The possibilities are endless.

4. Take it outside.

Grab some sidewalk chalk and head outside for math. Draw a hopscotch board on the sidewalk, and fill it with math problems or numbers.

Use rocks or twigs for counters as you practice addition and subtraction facts or even just counting.

Draw numbers with chalk. Call out a math problem, and let your child squirt the correct answer with a water gun.

5. Have a scavenger hunt.

Scavenger hunts are great indoors or out. Call out instructions for your preschoolers to find three items. Or, have them find two round objects. Can they find a red object or something that is a square? This is a great way to reinforce colors, numbers, and shapes with your youngest learners.

Sometimes, just getting up and moving is enough to make working on math facts fun instead of a chore.

How do you break up the monotony and make math fun for your kids?

6 Easy Ways to Learn Through Summer Fun

May 18, 2017 By Chelsea Gonzales

Written by Chelsea Gonzales of Gonzales on the Go.

Summer is almost here. While some homeschoolers choose to continue schooling right on through the warmer months, many families take a break.

A break from formal schooling doesn’t have to mean a break from learning. In fact, by planning the right kinds of activities, you may find that your kids are learning more than ever. As an bonus, they’ll be having a blast doing it.

With this in mind, begin planning your summer right away. Look for fun activities to fill your time as a family, and then find the learning opportunities within them. Almost any activity you do contains little nuggets of knowledge. Find those nuggets, expand upon them, read about them, and create your own summer learning adventure.

At a loss for what sorts of things your family should do? Couple these popular summer activities with ideas for adding extra educational value to them.

#1: Swimming

Everyone loves a good swim on a hot day. Swimming allows you to to cool off and get in some exercise. It also gives kids an opportunity to experiment with water.

Show the kids how to make a wave pool or a whirlpool and discuss the science behind how they work. Try putting together small sailboats using various materials. See which boats float the best or move the fastest, and talk about why.

#2: Movies

Take advantage of movies in the park and special deals at local movie theaters, and see a good flick during your summer break. Although watching movies might seem like an entirely mindless activity, this isn’t always true.

Depending on the movie, you may find the experience educational in and of itself. If not, there are plenty of ways to add to the experience and make it educationally worthwhile.

For instance, before watching a movie based on a book, read the book. Then, use the time after the movie to compare and contrast the two.

Before watching a movie set in the past, learn a bit about the era. If it’s a science fiction film, your kids may find it interesting to look into the feasibility or accuracy of the scientific ideas presented.

You can learn a lot when you use summer movies as the jumping-off point for digging in deeper.

#3: Camping

There is nothing quite as thrilling as sleeping in a tent surrounded by the sounds of the forest. Stargazing, fishing, and hiking are all wonderful camping activities that your family to enjoy as a family. Additionally, each of these experiences provides little explorers with a wealth of new information.

Turn your hike into a nature scavenger hunt. See what kinds of animal tracks you can find and discuss the ecosystem of the location. Learn about various birds and see how many you can find on your hike.

Fishing is a great life skill in and of itself. However, you can add to the experience by learning about the kinds of fish in the lake, discussing the ecosystem of the area, and reading about the history of fishing.

Stargazing is a great way to learn about the universe around us. Pick up some good books about constellations or outer space before heading out on your camping trip. Read them around the campfire as you gaze up at the stars.

#4: Museums

Museums may seem like a boring suggestion for an educational summer outing. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. Most cities have hands-on science and children’s museums, and some even offer living history exhibits. These kinds of museums are geared specifically to the younger crowd. Choose a kid-friendly museum, and you can be confident that your little ones will have a blast.

At the museum, take note of what piques his interest. Perhaps it’s the big exhibit or the hands-on rocket building station. Whatever captures your child’s interest, make a note of it. Expand on the topic when you get home through discussions, reading, internet searches, and YouTube videos.

#5: Bowling

Many bowling alleys offer a Kids Bowl Free program for the summer, making summer a fantastic time to introduce kids to bowling.

If bowling itself isn’t enough to get you to the alley, consider the lessons to be learned there. Younger kids can get in some addition practice by keeping score on an old-fashioned scorecard. Meanwhile, older kids can read up on the physics of bowling and watch those laws in action as they knock down some pins.

#6: Library

Escape the summer heat and keep your children reading over summer break with a visit to the local library.

From chess clubs to sewing classes, most libraries offer a variety of fun, educational activities in addition to summer reading programs. Regular access to new books and videos will give the kids an opportunity to study whatever captures their interest.

With this list in hand and a bit of creative thinking, you and your family can plan a summer full of fun and learning!

What are your plans for the summer break?

FREE Geometry Vocabulary Interactive Book

April 20, 2017 By Rachel

Written by Rachel of You’ve Got This.

Vocabulary. We often think it applies to social studies and science….but some math units have a boatload of vocabulary. If they don’t quite grasp or get this vocabulary, our kiddos won’t be successful.

My oldest has just reached his geometry unit, and we are surrounded by words that he has never heard of. Seriously, perpendicular lines isn’t a word I often use when talking to my children.

Knowing that he will not be successful in this unit without mastering these new words, I have created two activities to help him learn and understand geometry vocabulary words such as line, ray, line segments, parallel lines, and perpendicular lines.

We are starting with this fun, interactive dictionary and then moving onto a geometry bingo activity.

Prep Work For Geometry Vocabulary Interactive Book

This activity has two options with different level of prep-work.

Very Little Prep Work (the kiddos do all the work)

Print off the book
Provide scissors and a stapler for your child or students
During math time, have them cut out the book and staple it together.
Have them cut out the pictures and vocabulary words.

More Prep Work For You

Print off book
Cut out the books and staple them together
Either cut out the pictures and vocabulary words or let the children do that depending on the amount of time you want to spend.

How to Implement

We did this interactive geometry vocabulary book before we did anything else, so my little guy had absolutely no clue what the words meant.

We started by looking up the words in the interactive dictionary. We would read the definition, play with the lines, and then move back to the book.

Once we knew the definition, we would take the vocabulary word and find the definition in our book. We would then glue in the word int he blanks.

Next, we would find the picture that matched the vocabulary word and definition, and that was glued in.

Finally, we used our rulers to draw our own version.

Not only did we have fun learning about the words, but we now have a great resource that will help us as we play our Bingo game and complete the assignments from his math book.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Get your free book HERE.

What’s your favorite way to introduce new vocabulary to your children?

Giveaway: $320 Ultimate Bundle from Pin It! Maps

March 14, 2017 By Kris Bales

The best kind of learning is hands-on learning and Pin It! Maps bring an incredible hands-on experience to geography. We discovered Pin It! Maps the first year we were using workbooks. Each week, Megan was supposed to fill in a blank outline map in her geography book.

She hated it. The maps were confusing and difficult to decipher. Then, we found Pin It! Maps.

I received monetary compensation for the time invested in administering this giveaway. The opinions expressed are my personal, honest opinions. Your experience may vary. Please read my full disclosure policy for more details.

What are Pin It! Maps?

These big, gorgeously-detailed maps bring geography to life! The Ultimate Bundle includes 12 pin maps, 43 labeled maps, and 1,752 flags. All those maps, pins, and flags mean the bundle is incredibly versatile for teaching world geography and U.S. history and geography to kids from kindergarten all the way through high school.

Pin It! Maps - Hands-on Maps for Homeschoolers

The sets contain pin maps (for pinning the included country, state, and historical flags) and control maps featuring countries, flags, states, landforms, and bodies of water. We love the fact that the control maps are broken down into different topics.

So, for example, if your child is labeling the countries of Europe, the control map features only the countries. There is a separate control map for landforms. This allows a student to concentrate on one aspect of the maps without getting bogged down by too much detail.

What is including in the Pin It! Maps Ultimate Bundle?

The Ultimate Bundle, valued at nearly $320, includes:

Twelve 18 x 24″ Pin Maps (USA, US History 1800s, Early America, World, North America, South America, Central America/ Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia/ Oceania, and Land & Water Forms)
Four 18 x 24 x .5″ foam sheets and one 9 x 24 x .5″ foam sheet with plastic corners for the pin maps
Forty-one 12 x 18″ labeled maps
Two 6 x 18″ labeled land and water maps
1,752 flag labels, national, state, and historical flags (cut and ready to assemble)
Plastic flag poles and flag bases
1/2″ Transparent Scotch tape for colored flag labels
3/4″ Transparent Scotch tape for national flags

Due to safety concerns in shipping, the set does not include the straight pins needed to assemble the flag pins. They can be purchased on Amazon or at craft and hobby stores.

U.S. History and Geography Bundle

Pin It! Maps Giveaway

The folks at Pin It! Maps are giving away one Ultimate Bundle! Follow the directions on the RaffleCopter widget below to enter.

Rules: This giveaway is open to United States residents, ages 18 years and older only. Giveaway ends at 11:59 PM (ET) on Monday, March 20, 2017. The winner will be selected at random using Random.org via RaffleCopter.

The winner will be notified via email and given 72 hours to respond. You must enter a valid email address to win. In the event that the winner cannot be contacted by email or does not respond within 72 hours, the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner selected.

Click to read the complete rules. By entering this giveaway, you indicate that you have read and agreed to abide by these rules.

This post is linked to the Hip Homeschool Hop.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

10 Awesome Ways to Make a Cell Model

December 13, 2016 By Kris Bales

It doesn’t matter where you go to school – home, public, or private – at some point you’re going to study cells. When you do, chances are your curriculum is going to encourage you to build a cell model. If it doesn’t, do it anyway because it’s lots of fun!

There are lots of different ways to build a model of a cell – plant or animal – but these are ten of the best, most awesome ways to make a cell model. Some are edible, some are not, but they’re all really cool.

1. Cell cake. The cell cake we made when my kids were in middle school was probably one of the most fun, most popular projects we’ve ever done. It was simple and tasty. You can’t go wrong with simple and tasty.

2. Jell-O cell. We made a Jell-O cell model many, many moons ago. It was not very pretty or particularly appetizing because we used what we had on hand. My best tip for a Jell-O cell? Use foods like fruits, marshmallows, and nuts as the organelles so that you’ll actually want to eat it when you’re finished. This one from 123 Homeschool 4 Me is much prettier and more appetizing than the one we made.

photo credit 123 homeschool 4 me

3. Cookie cells. Another tasty edible cell model option is a cookie cell model. Start with a large chocolate chip cookie (made in a pizza pan for an animal cell or in a jellyroll pan for a plant cell). Then use candies for the organelles or shape them out of fondant.

edible-cell-made-out-of-chocolate-chip-cookie

photo credit harrington harmonies

4. Pizza cells. You can’t go wrong with pizza, either. You make a regular pizza cell model or a fruit pizza cell model – or one of each and you’d have lunch and dessert!

photo credit proverbial homemaker

5. 3D cell model. This 3D animal cell made from Styrofoam is amazing! If edible projects aren’t your thing or you just want something more permanent, this is perfect.

photo credit crafts n coffee

6. Clay cell. A clay cell model is another more permanent option. This one from Harrington Harmonies is fantastic!

photo credit harrington harmonies

7. Sandwich cell. If you’re looking for a simple edible option, try this sandwich cell idea. You could use a large round biscuit or cookie cutter for an animal cell.

photo credit adventures in mommydom

8. Shrinky Dinks cell. Because my oldest used to love Shrinky Dinks, this Shrinky Dink cell idea is one of my favorites! I wish I’d found it when she was younger. She’d have been all over it. The link includes a tutorial for both a plant cell and an animal cell.